Darnell Mayberry on the Warriors game: “Something really stood out in this one. Many of Golden State’s offensive rebounds and second-chance points came as a result of Thunder defenders having to help. Nothing new there. That’s been a theme all season. But I was amazed at how confused Thunder players were once they committed to helping. On several possessions, players had no idea where their man was once they went to help. It’s hard to put a body on someone or find them to recover when you don’t know where they are.”

The 66ers have been pretty successful in Tulsa says John Klein of the Tulsa World: “But the most recent ownership change and affiliation move to be linked with the Thunder has worked wonders for the on-court success of the team. The 66ers still have a tough time drawing fans for home games at the Tulsa Convention Center Arena. However, Tulsa has been very successful as a team, tied for the West Conference lead even after losses to Utah on Friday and Saturday nights. It would appear the success of the Thunder, one of the youngest and most successful teams in the NBA, is filtering down to the 66ers. Keep Reading…

What a strange game in the Bay Area. I would have bet just about anything that a Thunder-Warriors game would end up with each team scoring well into the 100s, maybe even by midway through the fourth quarter, but that wasn’t the case Sunday night in one of the weirdest Thunder games I can recall watching this season as Oklahoma City fell at Golden State 100-94.

If you glanced only at the Thunder’s side of the stat sheet, you’d probably think Oklahoma City would have won the game. OKC shot 53 percent from the field, 44 percent from behind the arc and 86 percent from the line. The 19 turnovers were kind of ugly, but it would seem survivable with the rest of those numbers. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had the kinds of scoring games that usually spell victory for the good guys as well, combining for 50 points on 16-35 shooting and 14-16 from the line. But Westbrook struggled in other aspects of the game, dishing out only five assists against six turnovers and finishing with zero rebounds.

And rebounding in general was what doomed the Thunder against the Warriors. Golden State out-rebounded Oklahoma City 47-33 including a whopping 20-2 edge on the offensive glass. Twenty to two. That, plus the Warriors finishing with only seven turnovers, led to one of the strangest box score items I’ve seen in awhile. Golden State hoisted 99 field goals compared to only 49 for Oklahoma City. That’s bizarre. The edge was 56-26 at the half. How does that happen? Keep Reading…

I’ll be up front: I don’t feel good about this one. The Thunder’s coming off a more-difficult-than-it-should’ve-been win last night in Sacramento. The Warriors are pretty good at home. And Oklahoma City has been prone to give up bunches of points. All of that combined makes me feel a bit uneasy. Keep Reading…

The Face and The Guy prepare for the upcoming All-Star festivities by bringing on a professional NBA gambler. He helps us pick our winners for each of the main events. But for good measure we also bring in our very own 2 1/2 year old NBA analyst to give us his picks.

We were all bracing for the worst as the Kings closed down Oklahoma City’s 11-point third quarter lead to just three heading into the fourth. It was the Memphis game all over again.

But the Thunder bench (plus Jeff Green) wasn’t going to let that happen. OKC’s stellar second unit started the fourth on a 12-2 run, pushing the Thunder’s lead out to a comfortable double-digit lead.

Then we were all bracing again as the Thunder let that lead slip to just two. Kevin Durant missed two free throws with the Thunder leading by two, 99-97, and gave the Kings an opportunity to win or tie with five seconds left. Tyreke Evans went for the gold launching a 3, but came up short.

While KD probably won’t sleep tonight as he replays those two free throws over in his head time and again, he was fantastic in closing this one. He scored OKC’s last 14 points, hitting signature jumpers off curls, pull-ups and the dribble. Every time the Kings tried to close in on the Thunder, Durant would knock in another jumper. He started the third quarter 0-5 and looked to be on his way to a rough finish, but he got himself going again with two solid finishes at the rim to close the third and carried that over to the big fourth. He finished with 35 on 13-22 shooting, but of course he’s not happy about the five misses at the stripe. Keep Reading…

A lot are looking at this little three-game stretch for the Thunder and seeing a big opportunity to pad the win column before the All-Star break. But winning at Sacramento isn’t easy. It’s a tough place to play at times and the Thunder proved earlier this week, nothing is a given. Keep Reading…

In the end, I like Brian Davis and Grant Long. Their odd quirks and over-excitement kind of make games a little more fun. I don’t mean that because they get me excited, but there are times where you get to laugh at something they said. For instance, against Phoenix after a big dunk, Davis yelled, “Excuse me! I just had an accident… but it was the good kind of accident!” Seriously. Anyway, he’s a little look at him calling games or something.

Those are some of the first-quarter scores the Thunder has allowed just since the beginning of this year. There were a couple of good efforts sprinkled in there as well, like a 19-point New Orleans first quarter, but Oklahoma’s defense early in the game has been abysmal about as often as not for much of the season.

Thankfully, the coaches and players are at least aware of it. It’s troubling that they’re not really doing much about it, at least right now, but I continue to think that because the Thunder at least chides itself for its bad defense out of the gate and often follows it with stellar fourth-quarter defending, there will come a time, hopefully in April, when it starts playing 48 minutes of defense.

But it got me to thinking: There can’t be much out there that’s worse than OKC’s defensive effort in the first quarter, but what is? Here are a few things, in no particular order. Keep Reading…